Item P1 PI
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
COUNTY of MONROE Mayor Craig Cates,District 1
The Florida Keys Mayor Pro Tern Holly Merrill Raschein,District 5
Michelle Lincoln,District 2
James K.Scholl,District 3
m' David Rice,District 4
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
September 20, 2023
Agenda Item Number: P1
2023-1032
BULK ITEM: No DEPARTMENT: County Attorney
TIME APPROXIMATE: STAFF CONTACT: Kelly Dugan
N/A
AGENDA ITEM WORDING: A Public Hearing to consider approval of an Ordinance amending
Section 8-37 of the Monroe County Code of Ordinances regarding a statute of limitations defense
against code compliance prosecutions.
ITEM BACKGROUND:
The Florida Legislature has not enacted a statute of limitations for administrative code enforcement
procedures such as those held before the Special Magistrate or Code Board. Florida courts have ruled
that the statute of limitations for civil actions found in F.S. 95.11 does not apply to such administrative
code enforcement matters though property owners do have the ability to raise the equitable affirmative
defense of laches in cases where the passage of time has rendered prosecution unfair. Sarasota County
v. National City Bank of Cleveland, Ohio, 902 So.2d 233 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005).
The laches defense is often confused with a "statute of limitations". "Laches"is the argument a property
owner can make that the County has exercised unreasonable delay in bringing a code enforcement case
resulting in unfair prejudice to the owner. A statute of limitations on the other hand makes a violation of
law immune from code compliance after an arbitrary amount of time elapses regardless of the facts or
details of the violation, the seriousness of the violation, and/or the importance of curing the violation.
Nevertheless, Monroe County is the only county or municipality- including Key West, Marathon,
Islamorada, KCB, and Layton - in the state of Florida that has an ordinance creating a statute of
limitations defense against code violations. This ordinance has existed in some form for over 30 years
giving property owners in unincorporated portions of the Florida Keys Area of Critical State Concern a
way to evade enforcement of laws designed to protect the resources within the FKACSC. That defense
exists nowhere else in the Keys or the rest of the State. As it stands now, the current ordinance includes
express exceptions to the 4 year statute of limitations defense for two types of flood violations and
unsafe structures.
The Code Compliance Special Magistrate in Code Compliance Case No. CE20070012 held that, "under
section 8-37(a), the limitations period must be measured from the alleged violator's failure to satisfy a
4064
continuing duty" to obtain an after-the-fact permit. A local court conducting limited appellate review
overruled the Special Magistrate's decision in a November 18, 2022, opinion in Case No. 21-AP-08-P
(the"Stone" opinion), thus preventing prosecution of code violations based on the failure to satisfy a
continuing duty to obtain an after-the-fact permit.
The Stone decision prohibits the Code Compliance Department from bringing cases against the owners
of properties where violations have been hidden or obscured for more than 4 years. A typical type of
case where this issue has arisen involves illegal land clearing of sensitive habitat. If left in place, the
Stone decision prohibits the County from requiring the restoration of sensitive habitat that was
destroyed more than 4 years before the case was initiated.
Staff is proposing two alternatives for the Board's consideration. First, one draft ordinance proposes
striking Section 8-37 in its entirety, which would promote uniformity with Florida law by making
Monroe County consistent with the remaining 66 counties and 411 municipalities in the state, including
the five municipalities within the Florida Keys. Alternatively, staff has drafted a second proposed
ordinance which would amend Section 8-37 to create an additional exception to the statute of
limitations for violations of environmental resource protection regulations or violations presenting an
ongoing danger to life or safety. Creating this additional exception to the statute of limitations would
allow the County to protect the sensitive Keys environment as well as its residents and visitors from
ongoing, unsafe conditions.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
At the 04/19/23 BOCC approved permission to advertise a public hearing at the May 17, 2023, BOCC
meeting to consider approval of an ordinance amending Section 8-37 of the Monroe County Code of
Ordinance regarding a statute of limitations for bringing code compliance prosecutions.
At the 05/17/23 BOCC meeting this item was continued via motion to the September 20, 2023, BOCC
meeting in Key Largo.
Ordinance 027-1991; Ordinance No. 50-2000, Section 3; Ordinance No. 031-2010, Section 3;
Ordinance No. 022-2011, Section 2.
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES:
N/A
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Approval.
DOCUMENTATION:
NOI Code Enforcement SOL.docx
Draft Ordinance Striking Section 8-37 of the Monroe County Code.pdf
Draft Ordinance Amending Section 8-37 of the Monroe County Code.pdf
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
4065
Effective upon filing with the Secretary of State per F.S. 125.66.
4066
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO CONSIDER
ADOPTION OF COUNTY ORDINANCE
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN that on May 17,2023,at 9:00 A.M.
or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard,at the Harvey Government Center, 1200 Truman Avenue,
Key West, Florida, the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County, Florida, intends to consider
adopting the following ordinance:
AN ORDINANCE BY THE MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS AMENDING SECTION 8-37 ("PASSAGE OF FOUR YEARS
TO PROSECUTIONS") OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF MONROE
COUNTY TO CLARIFY THAT CODE COMPLIANCE PROSECUTIONS MUST
BE INITIATED WITHIN FOUR YEARS OF THE ACTUAL DISCOVERY OF THE
VIOLATION BY THE MONROE COUNTY CODE COMPLIANCE
DEPARTMENT; PROVIDING THAT THIS CONSTITUTES AN AFFIRMATIVE
DEFENSE THAT THE RESPONDENT CARRIES THE BURDEN TO RAISE AND
DISCHARGE BEFORE THE CODE COMPLIANCE SPECIAL MAGISTRATE;
TO CLARIFY THAT THIS SECTION DOES NOT APPLY TO PROSECUTION(S)
BASED UPON FAILURE TO OBTAIN A PERMIT; TO CLARIFY THAT WORK
WITHOUT A PERMIT, SUCH AS DEVELOPMENT (INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO CONSTRUCTION OR LAND CLEARING), IS CONSIDERED A
CONTINUING VIOLATION THAT CONTINUES UNTIL REQUIRED AFTER-
THE-FACT PERMIT(S)ARE OBTAINED AND CLOSED OUT.
The proposed ordinance may be inspected by the public at the Monroe County website by viewing the
agenda packet for the May 17, 2023 meeting, which will be posted beginning on May 5, 2023 at:
0t:;;0..ec0u;r;tytl xclx; Y� cx � t The ordinance may also be viewed at the Monroe
County Attorney's office at 1111 12th St. Ste. 408 Key West, FL 33040.
The public can participate in the May 17, 2023 meeting of the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe
County, FL by attending in person or via Zoom. The Zoom link can be found in the agenda at
j!j,.:,//u,�1, ,��„ar°o�",t;,,ol,�„ ,; ;,,a°, ,ll,1„ ,a`, u 1J„ „ J , „��„lt.as. .
ADA ASSISTANCE: If you are a person with a disability who needs special accommodations in order
to participate in this proceeding,please contact the County Administrator's Office,by phoning(305)292-
4441, between the hours of 8:30a.m.-5:06p.m.,prior to the scheduled meeting; if you are hearing or
voice-impaired, call "711': Live Closed-Captioning is available via our web portal @
( ti: y, for meetings of the Monroe County Board of
County Commissioners.
Dated at Key West, Florida, this 21st day of April, 2023.
(SEAL) KEVIN MADOK, Clerk of the Circuit Court and
Ex Officio Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners
of Monroe County, Florida
4067
Publication Dates:
Keys Citizen(Wed.)4/26/2023
Keys Weekly(Thur.)4/27/2023
News Barometer(Fri.) 4/28/2023
4068
MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA
MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
ORDINANCE NO. -2023
AN ORDINANCE BY THE MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS STRIKING SECTION 8-37 ("PASSAGE OF FOUR
YEARS TO PROSECUTIONS") OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF
MONROE COUNTY; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY, AN
EFFECTIVE DATE,AND INTER ALIA RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
WHEREAS, the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners (hereinafter "BOCC"
or"Board")constitutes the local legislature of unincorporated Monroe County,Florida,and Article
VIII, Section 1, of the Florida Constitution, provides that the Board is the governing body of
Monroe County with powers of self-government as provided by general or special law; and
WHEREAS, certain of those powers have been enumerated in Section 125.01(1), Florida
Statutes,and include: (1) The power to adopt ordinances and resolutions necessary for the exercise
of its powers and prescribe fines and penalties for the violation of ordinances in accordance with
law; and(2) The power to perform any other acts not inconsistent with law; and
WHEREAS, Section 125.01(3), Florida Statutes, provides that the enumeration of all
powers in Section 125.01,Florida Statutes, are deemed to incorporate all implied powers necessary
or incident to carrying out such powers enumerated and further provides that the provisions of
Section 125.01, Florida Statutes, shall be liberally construed in order to effectively carry out the
purposes of Florida Statutes Section 125.01 and to secure for counties the broad exercise of home
rule powers; and
WHEREAS, the Board therefore finds and concludes that unpermitted work and
development in the unincorporated Florida Keys constitutes a harm to public health, safety, and
welfare; and
WHEREAS, the Board therefore finds and concludes that the prosecution of unpermitted
work and development in the unincorporated Florida Keys which remains unpermitted and/or that
remains without the required approved, passed inspection(s), constitutes a continuing harm to the
public health, safety, and welfare, and must not be judicially declared to be time-barred; and
WHEREAS, the Code Compliance Special Magistrate in Code Compliance Case No.
CE20070012 held that, "under section 8-37(a), the limitations period must be measured from the
alleged violator's failure to satisfy a continuing duty"to obtain an after-the-fact permit; and
WHEREAS a local court conducting limited appellate review recently overruled the
Special Magistrate's decision in a November 18, 2022, opinion in Case No. 21-AP-08-P (the
"Stone" opinion); and
Page 1 of 4
4069
WHEREAS, the statute of limitations established by Section 8-37 is inconsistent with
every other local county and municipality in the State of Florida, none of which have a statute of
limitations for code enforcement; and
WHEREAS, as the Board seeks to make unincorporated Monroe County consistent with
the rest of the State.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA, THAT:
Section 1. - Recitals and Legislative Intent. The foregoing recitals, findings of fact,
statements of legislative intent, and conclusions of law are true and correct and are hereby
incorporated as if fully stated herein.
Section 2. -Amendment. Section 8-37 of Chapter 8, Article H, of the Code of
Ordinances of Monroe County is hereby amended as follows (deletions are stricken through;
additions are underlined):
(a) All pr-eseetAiens before t4e eede eemplia*ee speeial fnagist+ate shall be initiated within
fee-- years of t e eeetifFenee of t e event eemplainedofor- be fq-eve- t,.,.-.a For- tl.o
dep%nftmeiit. EZ*eept, however-, tb..,t t is section shall of bar- t e initiatiell of
(1) The tinlawftil eenstmetion of a stmettir-e below t4e base flood elevation or- t
. . - ii sta*dar-ds of tise of a below base flood elevation stmettir-e as etAlined i
• •
(c)
storage area, shall be diseentintied a*d shall not be enter-ed 44- — --ved after- t4e
in a paFtietilar- RV park, et4er- than in a design4ed storage area,
Page 2 of 4
4070
shall be eensider-ed a new viel4ien. Pr-evietis leases or- agr-eefnent for- eeetipa-ney or-
effective doe oft e . roan ee f of whieh t is seetio is derive
Section 3. —Construction. The interpretation of this ordinance, and all provisions of the
Monroe County Codes, Comprehensive Plan, floodplain management regulations, and Florida
Building Code whose interpretation arises out of, relates to, or are interpreted in connection with
this ordinance, these being necessary for the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of and
visitors to Monroe County, shall be liberally construed to effectuate the public purpose(s) and
policy(ies) hereof, and such interpretations shall be construed in favor of the Monroe County
BOCC, and such interpretation shall be entitled to great weight in adversarial administrative
proceedings, at trial, and on appeal.
Section 4. — Severability, Partial Invalidity, and Survival of Provisions. If any
provision of this ordinance, or any section, subsection, or part or portion thereof, is held to be
invalid or unenforceable by any administrative hearing officer or court of competent jurisdiction,
the invalidity or unenforceability of such provision, or any part or portion thereof, shall neither
limit nor impair the operation, enforceability, or validity of any other provision of this ordinance,
or any remaining section(s), subsection(s), part(s), or portion(s) thereof. All other provisions
thereof shall continue unimpaired in full force and effect.
Section 5. —Repeal of Inconsistent Provisions. All ordinances or parts of ordinances in
conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of said conflict herein. Such repeal
shall not repeal the repealing clause of such ordinance or revive any ordinance which has been
repealed hereby.
Section 6. — Captions and Paragraph Headings. Captions and paragraph headings,
where used herein, are inserted for convenience only and are not intended to descriptively limit
the scope and intent of the particular paragraph or text to which they refer.
Section 7. —Inclusion in the Monroe County Code of Ordinances. The provisions of
this ordinance shall be included and incorporated into the Code of Ordinances of Monroe County,
Florida, and shall be numbered to conform with the uniform numbering system of the Code.
Section 8. —Effective Date. This ordinance shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary
of the State of Florida and shall become effective as provided by law.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County,
Florida, at a regular meeting held on the day of 2023.
Mayor Craig Cates
Mayor Pro Tem Holly Merrill Raschein
Page 3 of 4
4071
Commissioner James K. Scholl
Commissioner David Rice
Commissioner Michelle Lincoln
(SEAL) BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Attest: KEVIN MADOK, Clerk OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA
By: By:
As Deputy Clerk Mayor
Approved as to form and legal sufficiency:
Kelly Dugan,Assistant County Attorney
Page 4 of 4
4072
MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA
MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
ORDINANCE NO. -2023
AN ORDINANCE BY THE MONROE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS AMENDING SECTION 8-37 ("PASSAGE OF FOUR
YEARS TO PROSECUTIONS") OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF
MONROE COUNTY TO CREATE AN EXCEPTION FOR VIOLATIONS
OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE PROTECTION REGULATIONS OR
VIOLATIONS PRESENTING AN ONGOING DANGER TO LIFE OR
SAFETY; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY, AN EFFECTIVE DATE,
AND INTER ALIA RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
WHEREAS, the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners (hereinafter "BOCC"
or"Board")constitutes the local legislature of unincorporated Monroe County,Florida,and Article
V111, Section 1, of the Florida Constitution, provides that the Board is the governing body of
Monroe County with powers of self-government as provided by general or special law; and
WHEREAS, certain of those powers have been enumerated in Section 125.01(1), Florida
Statutes,and include: (1) The power to adopt ordinances and resolutions necessary for the exercise
of its powers and prescribe fines and penalties for the violation of ordinances in accordance with
law; and(2) The power to perform any other acts not inconsistent with law; and
WHEREAS, Section 125.01(3), Florida Statutes, provides that the enumeration of all
powers in Section 125.01,Florida Statutes,are deemed to incorporate all implied powers necessary
or incident to carrying out such powers enumerated and further provides that the provisions of
Section 125.01, Florida Statutes, shall be liberally construed in order to effectively carry out the
purposes of Florida Statutes Section 125.01 and to secure for counties the broad exercise of home
rule powers; and
WHEREAS, Monroe County is part of the Florida Keys Area of Critical State Concern,
intended to protect environmental or natural resources of regional or statewide importance, and
Monroe County contains one of the most ecologically diverse ecosystems in the United States,
which is home to over 30 species of threatened and endangered species; and
WHEREAS, the Board therefore finds and concludes that regulations protecting the
environment of the unincorporated Florida Keys should be enforced; and
WHEREAS,the Board therefore finds and concludes that the prosecution of violations of
such regulations prevent a continuing harm to the Florida Keys environment as well as to public
health, safety, and welfare, and must not be judicially declared to be time-barred; and
WHEREAS,the Board finds that violations presenting an ongoing danger to life or safety
should be enforced in order to protect the residents and visitors to Monroe County, and must not
be judicially declared to be time-barred; and
Page 1 of 4
4073
WHEREAS, the Code Compliance Special Magistrate in Code Compliance Case No.
CE20070012 held that, "under section 8-37(a), the limitations period must be measured from the
alleged violator's failure to satisfy a continuing duty"to obtain an after-the-fact permit; and
WHEREAS a local court conducting limited appellate review recently overruled the
Special Magistrate's decision in a November 18, 2022, opinion in Case No. 21-AP-08-P (the
"Stone" opinion); and
WHEREAS, Section 8-37 contains exceptions for "(1) The unlawful construction of a
structure below the base flood elevation level or the minimum standards of use of a below base
flood elevation structure as outlined in 44 CFR [and] (2) Determination by the building official or
his/her authorized designee of an unsafe building, structure or system as provided in Chapter 6,
Section 6-27 of the Code."
WHEREAS, the Board seeks to establish an additional exception so that a violation of an
environmental resource protection regulation or a violation presenting an ongoing danger to life
or safety are not barred by the statute of limitations.
WHEREAS, the Board seeks to clarify that the statute of limitations is an affirmative
defense, and the burden is on the respondent.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA, THAT:
Section 1. — Recitals and Legislative Intent. The foregoing recitals, findings of fact,
statements of legislative intent, and conclusions of law are true and correct and are hereby
incorporated as if fully stated herein.
Section 2. —Amendment. Section 8-37 of Chapter 8, Article 11, of the Code of
Ordinances of Monroe County is hereby amended as follows (deletions are stricken through;
additions are underlined):
Sec. 8-37. —Passage of four years to prosecutions.
(a) All prosecutions before the code compliance special magistrate shall be initiated within
four years of the occurrence of the event complained of or be forever barred. For the
purpose of this section, the term "initiated" means the filing of a notice of violation;
depaAme* . This section may only be raised as an affirmative defense in a quasi-
judicial code compliance prosecution before the code compliance special magistrate
and the burden of proving this affirmative defense is upon the respondent. Except,
however, that this section shall not bar toe i*4i +ie of a r etiee 4 a prosecution before
the code compliance special magistrate based on the following:
Page 2 of 4
4074
(1) The unlawful construction of a structure below the base flood elevation or the
minimum standards of use of a below base flood elevation structure as outlined in
44 CFR.
(2) Determination by the building official or his/her authorized designee of an unsafe
building, structure or system as provided in Chapter 6., Section 6-27 of the Code.
(3) A violation of an environmental resource protection regulation or a violation
presenting an on _going danger to life or safety. Under this subsection
"environmental resource protection regulation" shall mean a law or regulation
relating to natural resources,native upland vegetation and/or habitat, land clearing,
trenching,fill or filling,resource exploration and/or extraction, clearing allowances
and/or limits, environmental design criteria, landscaping, open space, invasive
exotics, bufferyards, stormwater, wetlands, wastewater, solid waste, or plants or
animals protected or listed as threatened or endangered by Monroe County, the
State of Florida, and/or the federal government.
(b) After the effective date of the ordinance from which this section is originally derived,
any violation of this section, the vacation rental ordinance, a special vacation rental
permit or permit conditions, shall be considered a new violation. Previous vacation
rental leases or uses or the failure to bring enforcement against vacation rental
violations pre-dating this section shall not act as laches or a bar to enforcement actions
brought for new violations occurring after the effective date of the ordinance from
which this section is derived.
(c) Occupancy agreements for RV spaces for a period of six months or more in duration
by an individual RV owner within a particular RV park, other than in a designated
storage area, shall be discontinued and shall not be entered into or renewed after the
effective date of the ordinance from which this section is originally derived. Each
lease, sublease, assignment or other occupancy agreement for RV spaces of six months
or more in duration in a particular RV park, other than in a designated storage area,
shall be considered a new violation. Previous leases or agreement for occupancy or
storage of recreation vehicles or RV spaces within a particular RV park, other than for
storage in a designated area, shall be discontinued and not be renewed, extended or act
as laches or bar enforcement actions brought for new violations occurring after the
effective date of the ordinance from which this section is derived.
Section 3. —Construction. The interpretation of this ordinance, and all provisions of the
Monroe County Codes, Comprehensive Plan, floodplain management regulations, and Florida
Building Code whose interpretation arises out of, relates to, or are interpreted in connection with
this ordinance, these being necessary for the health, safety, and welfare of the residents of and
visitors to Monroe County, shall be liberally construed to effectuate the public purpose(s) and
policy(ies) hereof, and such interpretations shall be construed in favor of the Monroe County
BOCC, and such interpretation shall be entitled to great weight in adversarial administrative
proceedings, at trial, and on appeal.
Page 3 of 4
4075
Section 4. — Severability, Partial Invalidity, and Survival of Provisions. If any
provision of this ordinance, or any section, subsection, or part or portion thereof, is held to be
invalid or unenforceable by any administrative hearing officer or court of competent jurisdiction,
the invalidity or unenforceability of such provision, or any part or portion thereof, shall neither
limit nor impair the operation, enforceability, or validity of any other provision of this ordinance,
or any remaining section(s), subsection(s), part(s), or portion(s) thereof. All other provisions
thereof shall continue unimpaired in full force and effect.
Section 5. —Repeal of Inconsistent Provisions. All ordinances or parts of ordinances in
conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of said conflict herein. Such repeal
shall not repeal the repealing clause of such ordinance or revive any ordinance which has been
repealed hereby.
Section 6. — Captions and Paragraph Headings. Captions and paragraph headings,
where used herein, are inserted for convenience only and are not intended to descriptively limit
the scope and intent of the particular paragraph or text to which they refer.
Section 7. —Inclusion in the Monroe County Code of Ordinances. The provisions of
this ordinance shall be included and incorporated into the Code of Ordinances of Monroe County,
Florida, and shall be numbered to conform with the uniform numbering system of the Code.
Section 8. —Effective Date. This ordinance shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary
of the State of Florida and shall become effective as provided by law.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County,
Florida, at a regular meeting held on the day of 2023.
Mayor Craig Cates
Mayor Pro Tem Holly Merrill Raschein
Commissioner James K. Scholl
Commissioner David Rice
Commissioner Michelle Lincoln
(SEAL) BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Attest: KEVIN MADOK, Clerk OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA
By: By:
As Deputy Clerk Mayor
Approved as to form and legal sufficiency:
Kelly Dugan,Assistant County Attorney
Page 4 of 4
4076
Comments against proposed ordinances changing section 8-37,
Monroe County Code.
BOCC Agenda Item P1, September 20, 2023
The ubiquitous wisdom "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies to section
8-37, Monroe County Code, which is a 4-year statute of limitation on
code compliance prosecutions.
The purposes of statutes of limitations have been well explained by
the Florida Supreme Court.
"...[S]tatutes of limitation afford parties needed protection against the
necessity of defending claims which, because of their antiquity,
would place the defendant at a grave disadvantage. In such cases
how resolutely unfair it would be to award one who has willfully or
carelessly slept on his legal rights an opportunity to enforce an
unfresh claim against a party who is left to shield himself from
liability with nothing more than tattered or faded memories,
misplaced or discarded records, and missing or deceased witnesses."
Allie v. Ionata, 503 So.2d 1237 (Fla. 1987).
"Statutes of limitations are designed to protect defendants from
unusually long delays in the filing of lawsuits and to prevent
prejudice to defendants from the unexpected enforcement of stale
claims. See Totura 8v Co. v. Williams, 754 So.2d 671, 681 (F1a.2000)
(explaining that the purpose of statutes of limitations is "to promote
justice by preventing surprises through the revival of claims that
have been allowed to slumber until evidence has been lost, memories
have faded, and witnesses have disappeared." Caduceus Props., LLC
v. Graney, 137 So. 3d 987 (Fla. 2014)
Page 1 of 2
The proposed changes to section 8-37 are contrary to the purposes
and underlying policies favoring statutes of limitation. Eliminating
section 8-37 will lead to an increase in stale code claims and
prejudice property owners from having an affirmative defense against
such stale claims.
The purpose of section 8-37 is to promote timely prosecution of
code claims by the County, not to encourage people to violate the
code. There is no evidence that the 4-year bar has been abused by
property owners as claimed by staff.
Rather, the limitation defense protects unsuspecting and innocent
property owners from unfair surprise and prosecution of alleged
code violations which may or may not have merit.
The lack of definition for the term "ongoing danger to life safety" will
result in needless litigation.
The existing section 8-37 is not broken and should be left as-is.
Van D. Fischer, Esq.
VDF LAW, PLLC
626 Josephine Parker Dr. #205
Key West, FL 33040
305-849-3893
Page 2 of 2